Cloth-guiding device.



G. W. TAIT.

CLOTH GUIDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JULY s, 1913.

Patented Apr. 7, 1914-.

GLOTH-GUIDING DEVICE.

1,oo2,eos.

Specification 01' Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. '7, 1214.

Application filed July 3, 1913. Serial No. 777,322.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. Tarr, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Kearney, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in OlothGuiding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a guide for the edge of cloth, and is adapted for use on machines where the position of the cloth must be governed, the guide tending to free the cloth in the proper direction whenever the cloth has a tendency to go outside of the limit of its designated path of travel.

The invention consists of a frame having tilted rollers which are adapted to be tilted in one direction by the cloth whenever the cloth is out of its path at the edge, being returned to normal position by gravity or other suitable means. The rollers when tilted by the cloth assume an angle so that in the feeding operation they subject the edge of the cloth to an angular feed and thus again force it into its position. The action of the rollers is thus intermittent, and devices of this kind are well illustrated in Patent No. 499,07 2, and in Patent No. 970,697.

My invention resides in certain details of construction which are embodied in the specification and which are also contained in the clauses of the claim. These details apply particularly to means for causing rollers which engage the cloth, to yieldingly abut so as to prevent their wearing at their juncture sufficiently to permit the entrance of threads or ravelings between the rollers, and also to permit the ready removal of such shreds or the like from the roller.

The invention also relates to improved SCl'lIDP bars and means for moving such bars so that they can be adjusted to supply the proper amount of tension to the cloth without stopping the machine, and also permitting a most minute adjustment so that the cloth is regulated to a nicety.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front view of an improved cloth guide showing the manner of adjusting the scrimp bars. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2--2 in Fig. 1.

The frame for the rollers and for holding the scrimp bars can be of any suitable conformation or construction, one form being shown in the drawing, this being the usual form in which these devices are made. The frame consists of a suitable supporting bar 10 within which is mounted to swing a yoke 11, the yoke having forwardly extending rears 12 which are pivoted on the pins 13 which are fastened in the cheek-pieces 1A of the bar 10. The rollers 15 and 16 are mounted on the yoke 11 and project forward, being normally pressed together by any suitable yielding means, the roller 16 being pressed toward the roller 15, usually by a spring, this feature not being illustrated, since it is well known to those skilled in the art and is employed usually in devices of this kind.

The roller 15 consists of two parts, a loosely running roller 17 and a roll 18 which has no movement, or a very limited movement, in a rotative direction. Usually the roll 18 has a limited movement by reason of the link 19 being pivoted to the roller as at 20 and having its lower end perforated as at 21, the perforation fitting over a finger 22 of the bracket 23, the hole 21 being large enough to permit the sliding of the link 19 when it is tilted with the yoke and rollers. The rollers are held in normal position by means of a suitable weight 24 suspended by an arm 25 from a suitable place on the yoke 11. It will beevident that when cloth 26, the edge of the cloth being shown in Fig. 2, is in line with the juncture of the end of the roller 17 and the end of the roll 18, it turns the loosely mounted roller 17 so long as it keeps within its designated path of travel, but whenever the edge of the cloth goes across this juncture it engages the roll 18 which is fixed, or substantially so, and the roll 18 thus acts on the yoke to tilt it on the pivot 18, and the angle of the rollers causes the feed of the cloth to be changed as to its direction and it is a ain fed inward and when it passes from the roll 18, the rollers with the yoke assume their normal position as shown in the drawing. I have found that the joint 27 between the roller 17 and the fixed roll 18 very often, in the usual form of this apparatus, becomes clogged with threads and ravelings of cloth and the operation of the device is thus seriously interfered with by reason of the smooth roller being very often held against free rotation, and the consequence is that the yoke is tilted when the feed of the cloth is correct.

The roller 17 and the roll 18 are mounted 011 a shaft 28, the shaft being secured to the yoke and projecting therefrom with a suitable adjusting device on its outer end for yieldingly forcing the rollers together. One embodiment of this adjusting means is shown in the drawing by a nut 29 screwed on the screw-threaded end 30 of the shaft 28. A spring 31 abuts on the nut-29 and also presses against the roller 17. I usually take up the wear on the roller 17 by a suitable anti-friction device, such as a washer 32, and I also prefer to form a hollowed portion or a chamber 33 to economize space and also to assist in seating the spring.

It willbe evident from this construction that as the joint 27 wears away, the rollers, not being in fixed position on the shaft, do not permit an opening to be worn between the roll and the roller, which is the case when they have any play between them at the joint 27, or when they are fixed in position without allowing for the wear between them.

In this present construction the spring 31 forms a yielding meansfor constantly pushing the roller 17 and the roll 18 toward each other and the wear is taken up as it occurs and there are no wide gaps or spaces formed between the roller 17 and the roll 18.

Another advantage of this construction is j that if by chance any foreign fragments, such as thread and ravelings, should get into the space between a roller and a roll, the spring permits the roller 17 to he slid back to permit a temporary widening of the space between the roller and the roll, and thus permits an easy removal of the obstruction, so that the spring, besides forming a tight joint between the roller and the roll, also permits this joint being opened when occasion requires, as will be understood. The roller 16 and the roller 17 are in practice usually roughened on the surface, this usually being done by annular rings or ridges arrangedvon the surface which provide for a better bite 011 the cloth, Beneath the rollers I place scrimp bars when necessary, these scrimp bars acting as primary feeds, the'bars acting to give the tension under which the goods are passing to the rollers, and also regulating the position of the cloth, since the scrimp bars have ridges on them which tend to keep the cloth at its outer limit 2 of travel so as to insure the rollers of the device not feedin the cloth in too far beyond its outer'limit of travel so that its edge will not be inside of its path. The preferred form of disposing the scrimp bars is illustrated in the drawing in which the depending plate 34 is provided with slots 35 and 36. In one of the slots, such as 36, Isecure one scrimp bar 37, the scrimp bar being round in cross-section and being held in place by a suitable lock nut 38 so that its adjustment can be accomplished and at the same time the scrimp bar can be held normally in a fixed a shaft 40. I wish to point out here that both the scrimp bars are mounted to rotate on supporting shafts similar to the shaft 40, and are provided with ridges 41 of suitable conformation, these ridges being so disposed that the cloth is fed outward when the scrimp bars are rotated by the tension of the cloth when the cloth is passing bet-ween the bars. 1

The shaft 40 of the upper scrimp bar 39 is mounted on a block 42 which is adapted to slide in the slot 35. Looselyturningin the block is the end 43 of a screw 44, which screw works in a screw-threaded perfora tion 45 in the plate 34 and has a suitable handle 46 providing for the rotationof the screw. The screw has a reduced portion 47 withinthe block 42, the reduced portion being engaged by a suitable bolt or screw 48 which holds the screw 44 from withdrawal from the block 42 because the screw 48 is seated in the reduced portion 47. The screw 48 does not bind tightly enough against the washer 49 to lock the block against sliding movement. V V

WVhen the tension of the cloth is to be adjusted, that is, if the scrimp bars are too far apart or too close together in a vertical plane, it is not necessary to stop the machine nor to manipulate the guide, except.

through the wheel 46. hen this wheel is turned in one direction orthe other, the block 42, and consequently the scrimp bar 39, is forced to either move forward or backward along the slot in which it is mounted and the tension'of the clothcan be adjusted to a very fine point. There is no cessation of the operation of the machine, and there is no guessing at the tension desired, since the operation of adjusting the'tension is done while the cloth is passing tliroughthe guides and through the rollers, and the required tension can be arrived at by actual test, and while held by the screw in fixed position, is always ready for alteration by the screw.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is i 1. In a guiding device for the edge of cloth, a swingingsupport having a freely revolving roller thereon, a substantially fixed roll abutting against the roller, and yielding means to. permit the separation'of the roller and the roll but acting to normally fobrce them toward each other so that they a ut. i

2. In a guiding device for the edge of cloth, a tilting support having a shaft thereon, a roll on the shaft, the roll being: arranged to have a verylimited rotation, a

roller freely rotating on the shaft and abuts projecting beyond the roller, an adjusting device on the end of the shaft, and a spring bearing on the adjusting device and on the roller to permit the separation of the roller from the roll but normally forcing the roller against the roll.

3. In a device for guiding cloth, a plate having a slot therein, a block adapted to slide in the slot, a screw in screw-threaded engagement with the end of the slot and the projecting end of the block, the screw being recessed, a lock-screw in the block and entering the recess of the screw, and a rotary scrimp bar with inclined ribs, the scrimp bar being supported from the block.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I hereunto set my hand, this 2nd day of July,

GEORGE W. TAIT. Witnesses:

WM. H. OAMFIELD, M. A. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

